Month: December 2022

After all of the festivities for my birthday, there has been a a bit of a lull in proceedings. The lull, of course, is dangerous. It leads to self-pity with regards to the ageing process; reminiscence; lounging about in comfy chairs; and an attempt at re-capturing one’s youth.

I mean, it was only yesterday that I was in my sixties and fighting fit. Now that I am in my seventies I have lots of aches and pains and fatigue….. John, too, being in his seventies, bemoans his aches and pains. Mind you, he does have a proper reason for moaning, I suppose.

However, we are harking back to our youth. We are living like students again. We are staying in bed as long as we can; leaving our beds unmade and clothes all over the floor; leaving piles of papers in the study – ‘Don’t touch! I know just what’s in that pile!’; scattering our purchases all over the place – in the hall, in the lounge, in the kitchen; and leaving the washing up in the sink until we’ve run out of plates. Howzat? I think we’ve hit the bullseye of student living, don’t you?

When we thought about trying to recapture our youth, this sort of living wasn’t exactly what we’d envisaged. No, we’d more thought about embracing freedoms, driving along an open road and drinking and eating exotic foods and travelling to lesser-known destinations. But, you know? I think you have to be careful what you wish for……….

Anyway, in the meantime, when we’re not living like students, we are still behaving like grown-ups as well. Examples below.

We had gone to bed without putting the bins out last night. I heard the bin lorry commotion in the street this morning, so hot-footed it downstairs, still struggling into a pair of jeans, to put the bin out.

Ha! Made it! Well, I thought I had. It transpires that it was the green bins they were collecting. You know, the ones that are no longer actually on the list? And ones we didn’t put out? Not sure if they ever collected the general rubbish. When I last looked, our bin was still embracing the rubbish we had so lovingly put into it…….

After the bin-a-thon, I tottered back upstairs to get into yoga kit. Having missed a few sessions recently, I thought I ought to attend class. When I got there, Jaime was surprised. She’d thought I was doing something else this morning. My first thought, given my weary self, was that I could have stayed in bed…..hehehe. It was a good session though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Home again, and John was up, watching TV. “I’ll just take the dog for a walk,” I told him. He nodded and resumed his TV watching.

The walk was fabulous. The air was clear, the sky was blue, the ground was (mostly) crisp underfoot and the dog was a good boy. Here he is, waiting for a treat.

I can’t quite remember what John was doing while I was out but, once I was home again, we thought we’d sit for a few minutes and watch Bargain Hunt before I popped up to the shops to buy bread. John raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s if you don’t fall asleep,” he grinned. Well, of course, I fell asleep. Dozed all the way through Bargain Hunt. Didn’t see much of it at all……

I did eventually get to the shops and we did eventually have some lunch. It was at that point that we started discussing the preparations for Christmas once again. “Let’s not put the Christmas Tree up just yet,” I suggested, “I’m letting Mac out through the patio door into the garden (to avoid the cat….) and it’ll be in the way.” OK, John agreed, and simply put the thing in the new stand we’d bought for it and shovelled it into a corner for now.

“What about gifts then?” said John, “have we got a list? Can I photocopy it?” Hmmm……. sort of. I squirmed. Normally, I am right up there on the organisation stakes and have my list all sorted. But not this year. It’s still a bit of a muddle. (I blame all those festivities….. silly of me to so enjoy myself, don’t you know?).

John photocopied the scrappy list I’d got. He couldn’t make head nor tail of it. He closed his eyes and had an afternoon nap instead. Feeling guilty, I thought I’d better do something about it and promptly set about ordering gifts on the internet and writing up what I’d bought/ordered/thought about buying…….. nearly there on an organised list – and there’s plenty of time anyway, isn’t there?

In other news…… there is a Father Christmas! Proof right here…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

It was a cold and frosty morning today. And we certainly knew about it. John was off to his rehabilitation class and had to scrape the ice off the car before he could set off, while I took Mac for a walk across the fields. Here he is, looking dapper and picking his way through the frosty leaves.

We are looking after Mac for a day or two while his family take a well-earned break in Lapland to meet Father Christmas. They have snow there apparently……. Looks nice, doesn’t it?

After the walk over the fields with Mac, I was off to yoga. For one reason or another, I had missed out recently so I arranged to go to the ‘Gentle’ class this morning, It was lovely – just suited my mood and my elderly bones.

Home again and I did a spot of ironing while I waited for John to come back from his class. We had some lunch and then slobbed in front of the TV for a little while. “This afternoon, I am determined to go and get the Christmas Tree, John. Do you want to come with me?” Yes, he did, which was nice. But not before both of us sat a little longer in our comfy chairs……

We made it to the garden centre and chose ourselves a lovely tree. Paid. Loaded it into the car and got it home. “Have we got a stand for it?” John wondered. I nodded. “There’s one in the loft. Shall I run up and get it?” I said. Yep. Great idea, but why is it that you always buy a tree that is too big for the stand you’ve carefully put away from last year? We had two stands in the loft. I dutifully brought them both down – neither of them were right. Back to the garden centre to buy another.

“Did you get your tree put into your car?” the sale assistant queried, surprised to see us back at the checkout. “Oh, yes,” I replied. “We’ve been home, realised the stands we’ve got are no good and come back again….” Bless her, she laughed. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

In times gone by, of course, we’d have rummaged in the shed for a suitable plane or saw to thin down the thick trunk on the tree, and spent ages beavering away until the darned thing fitted. Now, we just look at the job, think twice and take the easy option. Sigh.

This evening, there was a half-hearted attempt to Zoom chat the College Crew. Some WhatsApp chat threw up the reminder that it was the regular Thursday evening offer. As it turned out, only three of us made it. A couple of the group are away, one was at choir practice and one was doing housework…… hats off to her!

And there we are, another day done, with thoughts going out to besties Carol and John who have been poorly with Covid, and Dave and Chris who have been battling with Dave’s nasty cold. Not much sleep apparently …… oh, dear, they have my sympathy!

Take care everyone. God bless. Christmas is a-coming so let’s try and stay safe so that we can spend time with our loved ones, shall we?

Yesterday was one of those days…. you know, when you are busy from end to end!!

Last week, the care home had phoned to tell me that Mum’s dentures had developed a crack in them and would need a repair. So, off I went, first thing in the morning, to winkle them out of Mum’s mouth and take them over to the dental laboratory.

Bless her, Mum wasn’t keen. The care worker tried and failed to get Mum to take her teeth out. Resolutely refused. “You’ll have to have a go,” said the care worker ruefully. “She won’t do it for me.” Right.

It took some cajoling, flattery, hugs, laughs and threats but eventually, out they came and I was able to get them to the repairers. “I’ll bring them back soon,” I said. “Well, make sure you do,” said Mum, grinning goofily.

I popped back home and got on with a few jobs. One in particular, was the establishing of whether we had all the ingredients necessary for the Christmas Cake. A little late in the making, I know, but better late than never, eh?

And here’s the rub. The local Co-op has had a change round. Modernised, don’t you know. Ha! I say again – Ha! What an absolute joke. The store no longer stocks what I would call ‘family food’. I may have mentioned this before……. sorry to bore you with it. But did it have any glace cherries, or mixed peel, or currants, or raisins? No! Of course it didn’t.

I popped along to Oakes’ where I was able to source some mixed peel; I rummaged in my cupboards and managed to source most of the rest. There may be fewer currants than the recipe calls for and a few more sultanas, but hey-ho.

I started the mix-up of the cake and then realised that I wasn’t going to get it into the oven before I had to go back and collect Mum’s teeth, so I abandoned it half-way through. Who knows? It might taste better for having rested? We’ll see.

Dentures successfully collected and a return to the care home to pop them back in Mum’s mouth. She was delighted to have a full set of gnashers back in.

Regrettably though, she was confused. She wasn’t too sure who I was but knew she knew me somehow. She wasn’t sure where she was going; where the bathroom was; where her clothes were and initially, refused to change the clothes that were a bit grubby. Almost every touch resulted in a yelp. “Ow! You’re hurting me!” she cried, as I dried her hands after their wash.

I felt saddened by her loss of memory. The care worker had asked me to note down her likes and dislikes, who was important to her and so on. She couldn’t think who was important to her, but agreed when I suggested it might be me and Graham. She rolled around in her mind for a long time where Graham might be. She couldn’t remember that he was in Australia at all. But, on the plus side, she is not unhappy, so that makes it feel a bit better.

The cake was finally mixed and cooked by 9.30 at night; cooled on the wire rack by 10.30 and….. oh, where are my tins? I had round ones and tall ones but no square ones. In the end, I wrapped it all up in foil and thought I’d check with the kids if I’d given them out previously with goodies in. Eeeh, I can’t remember anything either!!!

And how about today? Another busy day but one which was wonderful. A marvellous morning at Freddie’s Nativity Play in which he played Joseph. He was so gorgeous, playing his part very well. Here he is, thrilled I’d gone to watch and pleased as punch with his performance.

A visit to the hairdresser’s later and a session of wrapping Christmas presents while John wrote Christmas cards, before we both collapsed in a heap to watch the footie this evening. There’s clearly no peace for the wicked!!

In other news, it’s been a very busy day for Christiana, too. Baby number two made his appearance this afternoon! So thrilled for her and Mike, who couldn’t be there unfortunately, because he’d tested positive for COVID. So disappointing, but it won’t be long before they are reunited, I am sure. Gloria stepped into the breach and supported Christiana, which must have been a relief for her. It’s always nice to have someone’s hand to hold, isn’t it?

Here’s to new life and hope.

Take care everyone. God bless.

….. let the festivities begin!!

The last of the birthday celebrations was held last night and so they are all over for this birthday girl. But guess what? It’s time to start gearing up for Christmas now, so off we go again!!

Fortunately, today was a day of rest. And forgetfulness. I was supposed to go to a Yin Yoga and Gong Bath this afternoon, but I forgot…… I had consciously left my phone upstairs out of the way. Missed the reminder. Missed Jaime’s message. Missed the class. Booo…… ah, well, next time maybe!

Anyway, back to yesterday. We pottered about in the morning, then I took myself off to the opticians for an eye test. My eyes have been bothering me for a while and a visit had been on my ‘to do’ list since July.

The optician thought that the astigmatism in my eyes had changed which was what was causing a slight blurring of vision. But she paused as she pored over the scans of the back my eyes. “Hmmm….. there’s an anomaly there in the macular in your right eye,” she said. “Let’s just do another, more detailed scan and I’ll take a closer look.”

She could see that there was a dip in the macular in the right eye. She could also see some darker pockets in the left. “I’ll refer you to the hospital,”she said. “They could be little cysts.” Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.

Never mind, it was time for partying and save the worrying for another day. We were on for an evening out with the Centre Stage Crew.

We got ready and sat waiting for the taxi to arrive to take us to The Tipperary Inn. An hour before it was due to arrive, the taxi company phoned John and cancelled. “We haven’t got a driver,” they said. Oh, Lord.

John wasn’t best pleased. However, he isn’t one to be beaten and got on to the computer and found another company that would do the trip, so we were saved.

We had a fabulous evening. Twelve of us and a great get-together. Copious amounts of food and drink; plenty of frivolity and the offer of some lovely gifts – thank you very much! And boy, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!! Here we all are grinning like Cheshire Cats! Lovely.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Memory is a funny old thing, isn’t it? As you look back into the past, a rosy glow appears, coating your memories with softness, removing all those hard edges that were surely there.

Such was my experience yesterday. I had decided to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. I had exactly in mind what I was going to buy and where I was going to get the gifts from.

I popped up to the local Garden Centre, Rosebourne, which is a very nice garden centre, with lots and lots of lovely Christmas things. But did they have what I was after? No…… they didn’t. They had lots of other things, but not specifically the items I was convinced they would stock. Now, last year, I was sure they had had said items on their shelves. Was my memory playing tricks? Who knows?

Never mind, I thought, I’ll adopt Plan B and nip into Kenilworth to see if I could buy what I was after there.

Before I could raid the stores in Kenilworth however, I was called to go over to run an errand for Mum. The dentist had been and had advised the staff at the care home that her dentures had a crack in them, which would need a repair. Very specific instructions were issued to the staff as to how to go about it, which was then relayed to me. “If you come and get your Mum’s dentures today, you can take them to the laboratory in Nuneaton and, within an hour, you’ll be able to collect them and she can have them back.”

Ha! I love a game of Chinese Whispers, don’t you? It transpired that that wasn’t the case at all. Yes, Mum’s dentures probably do have a crack in them but, a) they’ve got to be removed for repair first (good luck with that, the staff sniggered, your Mum’s a bit reluctant…..); b) the laboratory has to be at the address you’ve been given (it wasn’t); c) the laboratory has to be willing to do them the same day without notice (they weren’t).

In the end, I left without visiting Mum or looking at her dentures. I didn’t want to stay as I had my bit of shopping to do, so thought a visit for five minutes would only confuse her. The plan is to go on Monday and see what we can do then. Hopefully, the dentures will last until then. Fingers crossed anyway.

Back to my shopping. I remembered that Coleshill has a Morrisons. Happy memories of shopping in Morrisons with Paul when he was in his early teens. I ran through my shopping list in my mind. Yes, I am sure Morrisons will have what I am after.

No. Small Morrisons. Full of booze and fast food. Horrible place. And none of the items I was after. The bubble of lovely memories burst. Perhaps Morrisons hadn’t been that wonderful all those years ago, after all? Ah, well, onwards and upwards! Opt back in to Plan B.

Travelling down the A452, I suddenly bethought myself of Melbicks Garden Centre. Ooooh, such a lovely garden centre with lots of knickknacks, they will definitely have what I’m after! But could I get into the garden centre? No…. HS2 has put paid to that on the route back from Coleshill. Got to drive nearly all the way home before turning round to be heading in the right direction! Abort! Abort!

Kenilworth wasn’t a lot better. Boots was woefully empty of anything exciting, but I was able to choose one acceptable something in WH Smiths.

What, you might be wondering, did I actually want to buy? Simply a man’s washbag and a nice pen. That was all. There were nice women’s washbags all over the place. And pens galore – but not nice ones. In my mind’s eye, I remembered seeing the items in all these places, but no longer. Gotta order them off the internet these days…….Grr.

Anyway, if yesterday tainted my happy memories, today was about making new happy memories. Nev and Jane came up on the train from London and we all went out for lunch in Solihull. More birthday celebrations! Hehehe. We had a lovely time, ate some great food and have vowed to return the favour and go down to visit them for lunch in the New Year. Marvellous.

Now, in the meantime, I am counting down the days to Christmas with my Advent Candle. Having a bit of a panic that there’s only 23 sleeps until Christmas. Anyone else?

Take care everyone. God bless.